Do not have people send you money, airline tickets, or other valuable items through the mail. Items mailed in padded manila envelopes and small/medium boxes have a better chance of arriving at your site without being delayed by customs. Larger boxes have to go through customs and sometimes mysteriously disappear in transit. Retrieving packages from customs is time-consuming and most often requires payment of duty fees that are sometimes more than the value of what is in your package. Also, we were advised to always write books on the outside customs form and maybe candy or a few other cheap things you send. But even if it is not books, it will get here if you write that.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Chose carefully what you want to send, i.e. please keep it small and cheap (i.e. CDs/DVDs ok, iPods not...not that you were going to send me an iPod anyway).